US student Amanda Knox arrives in court before the start of the hearing of her appeal trial in Perugia's courthouse on December 18, 2010. Lawyers for Amanda Knox, the American convicted with two others of murdering a British student in Italy, are hoping her appeal trial Saturday will order new tests on DNA linking her to the crime. AFP PHOTO / TIZIANA FABI (Photo credit should read TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images)

Experts testified at an appeals hearing on Monday that Italian police allegedly used dirty gloves while handling evidence in the Amanda Knox case. We spoke to a lawyer who explains what this means for Amanda, and why this could reduce her sentence or send her home entirely!

Court is in session for Amanda Knox‘s appeal and it seems like she may be making headway with overturning her guilty conviction. Today, new testimony claims officers searching murder victim Meredith Kercher’s room did not maintain proper procedure. Mistakes included allowing people to come in and out of the crime scene, people not wearing protective caps, and Italian cops using “dirty gloves”. Acclaimed attorney Susan Filan tells HollywoodLife.com that these errors could lead to three possible outcomes for Amanda, one of which includes going home free!

Two different experts, Italian professors Stefano Conti and Carla Vecchiotti testified in Perugia, Italy that these errors mean the DNA evidence, holding Amanda responsible for the murder of her roommate (who died from her throat being slit) is unreliable.

“If the DNA evidence is thrown out, the bra strap and the knife, the court could reverse the conviction due to lack of evidence,” explains Susan. “But the prosecution argues there is enough other evidence even without these two pieces of evidence.”

According to Radar, there is video evidence that shows one officer wearing dirty gloves when he was collecting a strap cut from Kercher’s bra by her killer or killers. Prosecutors used this evidence to link Raffaele Sollcito, Knox’s boyfriend at the time, to the murder.

The court however, was told that this piece of evidence was not discovered by police until 46 days after the murder, making it much more likely to have become contaminated.

In December 2009 Amanda and Raffaele were convicted of sexual assault and the murder of 21-year-old Brit, Meredith. Both Amanda and Meredith were studying abroad at the time of the killing. This murder has been very closely covered in the media and there was even a Lifetime movie made with Hayden Panettiere playing Amanda.

So could Amanda go free? “I do think the court might throw out the conviction because the evidence used at the first trial was unreliable,” says Susan. “There are three possible outcomes from this appeal: her verdict could be overturned and she goes homes She could get a reduction in her sentence. Or the court could uphold the verdict as it stands. This is a case watched closely by the U.S. and the world. Italy’s system of justice is on trial and they are aware of that. However, equally pressing is justice for Meredith Kercher, the murder victim.”